Update

So I've just signed up for round two of the gorricks spring series. At the last race I was slow, very slow.
I can ride all day long at a leisurely pace but riding fast for an hour I'm not so good at.
I'm off to the gym and may have to bite the bullet and ask one of the personal trainers some advice, ahhh.

On another note a sure fire way to get in to the bad books; wash your shoes in her bath!

A couple of pics from Sunday.
Start of the big kids and some awesome graffiti under the tunnel.

Hey hey
Forgot to mention, I upped the psi in the forks and hey ho I didn't go over the bars.
Result
Some bad news however is that there were only 30 riders in my group so my 25th place isn't so good

So today I entered the Gorricks spring series race 1. It was at Crowthorne Forest which is pretty much the backside of swinley forest. I'm not the biggest fan of swinley but the XC course Gorricks laid on was awesome.  I'm not the fastest rider and the stag do the day before was not a goid idea but I raced anyway. I had a good start but started to struggle but soldiered on. I finish 25 in my group in the end which I was pretty pleased with I think my group had 35 riders.  I'll check the offical results tomo.

So I've been trawling the forums to find out why I'm flying over the bars so much. Some very interesting theorys.
Some say not enough air in my shocks; sounds sensible.
Some one else thinks its my potassium levels. Not sure how I feel about this idea?

Someones forum tag line is:-
"if your not falling, your not going fast enought" thank you sir, my new motto

So I took the pinnacle out for a cross country ride at the weekend. Dug out some Spds and off I went to the new forest. The road ride to the forest was pretty good; them big wheels do make the road section faster that's for sure. As always at the moment I started the ride flying over the bars in to some mud in front of someones gran. Nice move.
The bike was fantastic throughout. Wet grass and bog are no match for the bike. Even found some big bomb holes to jump in and out of. I was out for about 2 hours and felt remarkably fine afterwards. No tired legs at all, either I'm getting fitter or the bike is a breeze to ride.
I'm still pleased with the purchase and I'll see how she gets on next weekend in the first race of 2014. Go me!

Cross country ride

Bonjour bonjour.
so today I went to Swinley forest at the crack of dawn. There were a small hand full of riders who'd risked the early morning and had been rewarded with that rare sight; the sun. First things first I reduced the fork psi to 120 hoping for some faster downward corners but shortly after I set off,  Boom! Over the bars, face chest and legs slammed in the rootie mud. It hurt but worst of all it totally knocked my confidence. So slowly slowly catchie monkey I went. The bike withstood the slam well with not so much as a twisted grip or out of line bar. Any ways I rode on. The Pinnacle Ramin 3 was great Swinley however was not. Lots of trail sections closed for no reason I could see (so I went down one or two just to see). As my confidence grew I started to speed up and take some more risks. I lost it in a few corners but on the whole the Continental X King tires did much better than I thought.  I did think they would be my first upgrade but in the deep mud they plodded on and on the hard pack trails they gripped well but still had some slide in them when trying to hang the back end out; of course I still overshot one or two turns but remained upright.
I did think the big wheels would be horrid in the tight single track but I was very easily keeping up with the full sus 26ers in front, I would even say that due the the easy rolling on the roots up hill I was faster.
I was having some hand cramps but the brakes are very adjustable so a couple of stops and some tweeks I got a real nice feel on the bars.
Those who've ridden Swinley know the end is the best best with shallow fast sweeping jumps and burns. On the full sus I could get some nice air here. I just say I did have to force the jumps more but after sessioning it a few time I was once again in the air, albeit not quite as high and far.
all in all I'm still really liking the hard tail. The easy climbs leave me with more puff on the fun bits. Some of the fast berns I have noticed are slower than the full sus; I would say its because on the full sus the bike really hunkers down in to the corner but I think its mostly my confidence. If I go in hard and fast I think the bike will try and stand me up as a posed to low side me on my ass.
the day was good I came away with more energy and still covered in mud. I'm enjoying the hard tail and still think it was a smart buy.
I do think the peddles could do with being upgraded very very soon

So I had my first ride today on the Pinnacle Ramin 3. It was great. I set the forks at 150psi and off I went; I'd set the seat forward to shorten the reach to the bars but the cock pits not a large as I first though so popped it back to a more comfy position. I also tilted the brakes downward and, bingo, we are very comfy. The ride the my local trails was good. I though I'd feel super fast with the 29 inch wheels but on the road it was pretty same same as my old 26 inches. At the trails the back wheel feels rally planted, but, when slung hard in to the corner she felt loose but under control. It was a nice improvement to the full sus which really hugged the ground and sucked some of the fun out of lose wet (easy) corners. I know keeping the wheel rolling is a faster way to ride but I'm on the trail for a fun ride not a qualifying time. In my head I keep thinking the huge wheels will cause me some issues in the tight turns but it felt fine. I still slowed up; it'll be hard to shake the thought from my mind but I have no doubt, as a regular rider, the 29 or 26 will be pretty much the same. I'll re address this when I'm a pro rider. I did notice a massive improvement in the climbs though, didn't even need the granny gear. Also riding though the thick gloppy mud was much easier, and this time of year that is a massive bonus. All in all I'm very pleased with the bike so far, I'm off to trail centre next week and well see how she performs in harder riding environment.

So I've just made the change from a full sus to my first hard tail; and a 29er at that. so new frame style and wheel size. Theres so much going on about wheel size and the like, so i figured i'd give it a go my self. After shopping around and very carefully ignoring all reviews I picked what i think will be a great hard tail for my novice style riding. I need a good rake on the front forks and so many hard tails have to steep an angle for my liking so instantly 29er choices were quite limited. I the end the british bike company Pinnacle won and with a really good spec sheet i when for the Pinnacle Ramin 3 size large. An awesome matt orange colour really looks good. Its a ally frame so stiffer and steal but not as unforgiving as carbon.